October 20, 2009

You know, I've never watched his show or paid attention to the various clips that float around, but I listened to this 17-minute Glenn Beck riff, mainly because I've been meaning to blog about this Anita Dunn/Mao business. I found Beck quite engaging and humorous and articulate in a low-key (yet excitable) way. He has some interesting locutions. (I liked "non-nefarious reasons.") He's a good TV character.

As for Anita Dunn... what's that thing she's doing with her tongue? Did she eat a lot of peanut butter before going up to do her speech? Man, that is unattractive. But as for what she said:

"And Mao Tse Tung said, 'You know, you fight your war, and I'll fight mine.' And think about that for a second. You don't have to accept the definition of how to do things, and you don't have to follow other people's choices and paths, OK?"

Okay.

"It is about your choices and your path. You fight your own war. You lay out your own path. You figure out what's right for you. You don't let external definitions define how good you are internally. You fight your war. You let them fight theirs. Everybody has their own path."

And if killing millions of people is right for you, don't let anyone stop you. You have your own path...

I can think of some non-nefarious reasons for saying that. Dunn is a bit of an idiot, and though she is the White House communications director, she's not too good at communicating. She doesn't seem to know that things you say can be looked at in more ways than the one you intend. I wonder how long she'll be kept around. Is there a bus coming along that path of hers?

One of Dunn's favorite political philosophers killed 70 million people. This is 500 times the number who died in the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima.

During Mao's mass starvation, tens of thousands of people ate human flesh to survive. Some would dig up graves. Parents killed and ate their children, children ate their grandparents, and siblings ate siblings. Some political prisoners were fed to their families as punishment.

Dunn is disgusting. What she said is no different than extolling the virtues of Hitler or Ted Bundy or Charles Manson.

The history of Mao as a commander in war was that he refused totally to do an American demanded alliance with the Nationalist Army in the fight against the Japanese Army. He would not compromise with the Nationalist patriots way that favored a renamed type of Emperor system and treated peasants as peasants. Instead Mao treated peasants as equals. Mao's way worked in a big recruitment and loyalty advantage, even as the Democratic American attitude works here. Then Mao decided to finish off the Nationalists after the Japanese surrendered, and he did that by the Communist theory of winning which requires killing off all of the society's old leadership elements to prevent any attempt at a restoration of the old order. So yes,Anita Dunn admires Mao's will to kill as a good way ensure her victory over you and me. Thanks a lot Mr Smiley Face Obama for hiring and promoting people dedicated to murdering me and my family. That makes politics sort of personal.

Was she the commencement speaker? There's great comedy in the idea of someone quoting a mass murderer to inspire high school graduates. It boggles the mind that someone would be senseless enough to actually do it.

That this person is the communication director of Obama's administration, is somehow not surprising. But it is funny as hell.

I wish I were the president, just for the 747 and the cabinet I could assemble. I would have the best minds that I could find with a special eye out for those people who would vehemently disagree with each other. I'd let them argue it out and just listen. Well, I'm not the president so the jet doesn't take off when I tell it to and I can't hire great minds to argue.

So, I did the next best thing, I drove to the bookstore. Here is who I put on my "book cabinet": I got Alan Dershowitz. He's opinionated, obnoxious and at times-when he's not talking about the OJ Simpson case-he makes a good point. Let's see, let's put him in a room with... Adolf Hitler. I'd love to see those guys go at it.

Glenn Beck, The Real America, p. 210

So... Glenn Beck thinks Hitler was one of history's great minds????????? Glenn Beck is A NAZITITLER. WE MUST EAT HIM.

When I was in high school, I was friends with a girl who attended a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. We happened to be talking about Mao Tse-tung (because that’s how we spelled it back then), who had been dead for only a year or so. She told me about how her professors praised Mao for his massive achievement of bringing China into the modern world. She shared their admiration for him.

I wasn’t too knowledgeable about Chinese history, but I had been an avid reader of The Guinness Book of World Records, and I told my friend that Mao was in the Guinness Book as perhaps the greatest mass murderer of the 20th century. She just stared at me in disbelief. Her profs had never mentioned anything in class about him killing anybody. All she’d ever heard was that Mao was a great leader and philosopher.

I get the feeling that Anita Dunn was similarly educated. Of course, she’s tried to backpedal since this video emerged, saying that her reference to Mao was ironic, but her comments on the video don’t look particularly ironic.

I think the White House has stepped in it again, with Dunn emerging as their point person in the pathetic Fox-Is-The-Enemy campaign. And let me be the next to say that Dunn grosses me out with that weird tongue-problem she has going.

It's ironic, though, the successful campaign by Color of Change (a group started by Van Jones, who got booted from the administration, in large part because of the efforts of Beck), is partly why the show is so successful.

Beck leads off the first 20-25 minutes of his show without a break. It gives him room for his theatrics. If he had more breaks, he wouldn't be able to build up the tension he does.

Presumably, even as national advertisers stay away from Beck, I suspect local advertisers still buy time, and Beck has been a huge benefit for FNC overall, even if his show doesn't pull in the revenue it should given its ratings.

The Dunn story is hilarious. Obama and the whole pundit/flack class considered here a "real pro" (David Gergen's words) and hailed her as the perfect person for Obama to send out to lead the attack on FOX News.

It turns out that she is a fool who thinks praising Mao is the appropriate message of inspiration to high school students. I think part of this is that democrats and their liberal media friends live in such a cacoon that their speech and thoughts are never subject to any significant level of critical analysis.

There is another video where she brags about controlling the media during the election campaign. Nothing wrong with flacks trying to do that, but she is such a dope that she thinks it is okay to then brag about it in public.

Could this whole anti FOX news crusade have been carried out any more incompetently?

Let's pretend, for the sake of argument, that your Beck example is legitimate.

That would mean that Obama's communications director is basically just a left-wing Glenn Beck. Would you want Glenn Beck working in the White House? I wouldn't, and I'm a lot closer to his political views than you are.

You know who these Obama appointees remind me of? Remember in high school there was always two or three kids who were top A students?

Remember how fucking annoying they were ... how their parents had convinced them at very early ages that they weren't like regular kids. That they were special. They never had any friends because they were insufferable assholes with out sized egos that in no way matched their achievements.

That's who these people are. They're the type of people who think they're special. That they're above it all.

And that the MSM responds immediately with "Rush is a racist" & FOX is not a "real" News Channel".

And that whatever FOX or Rush reported as occurring never occurred or if it did it occur, it didn’t actually, you know, occur as FOX or Rush said that it occurred, or it wasn't as important as FOX or Rush made it sound to their déclassé audiences or it was more nuanced than FOX or Rush understood.

And Rush was against McCain (in the primaries) & Obama & they both won without his support. So there.

And he’s not even a college grad & probably doesn’t know a thesis from a theme!

What stupidity. The issue - which the left does not want to face and wishes to make you look away from is the key difference in every illustration that Anita and her brethren give:

Non one else made the outrageous and startling claim that Anita Dunn did -

that butcher of more humans beings than Hitler Mao is one of Anita's favorite philosophers.

See, the left will always parse the words and reassemble them in explanations to hide their meaning. Hell, more than 50% of the left wing blogs and pundits didn't even mention that she said those crucial words that set her apart from everyone else - favorite philosophers.

Even Media Matters - the go-to for imbeciles on the left who can barely wipe themselves in the bathroom - at least tries the next level up, trying to say that favorite political philosopher doe s not mean "hero" or - get this! - that she agrees with his "ideology". I actually burst out laughing at that one.

Here's a fun test:

Who of the following can you say is a favorite philosopher but you disagree with their "ideology" (hint - your philosophy compiled in a book IS your ideology):

Monty, that didn't take long at all. No argument is possible to defend the marxist Dunn, so attack Beck. Beck is not the issue. Dunn is the issue. Classic response.

And slow joe, you're spot on. Hannity is an idiot party hack and O'Reilly is just a jerk. Beck puts together a coherent story using the opposition's own words and just knits it all together to make their communism more obvious than it already was.

Let me corroborate the sense of Drew W's story; I am acquainted with several college professors (political scientists) who have many good things to say about Mao because he "supported black people's struggles" and because he realized "Western science is in the service of middle class elites."

Endorsing an idea that Mao had is tantamount to endorsing Mao's famine and Mao's cultural revolution?

No. Quoting the man is harmless. The quote is actually a very good one and teaches a valuable lesson: Don't fight by your enemy's terms, pick your own. Easy.

The unpardonable sin committed is not the quote, but the claim that he is her "favorite political philosopher" and her very clear admiration of him and his goals.

That's why your comment about Beck was doubly irrelevent; first because we're not discussing Beck's sins we're discussing Dunn's, and second because simply quoting someone is completely harmless. It's the claim of admiration of the political philosophy of killing tens of millions of one's own people especially while a member of our government that is anathema.

"Conservatives talk about freedom but when they find it convenient they are AGAINST freedom, especially academic freedom".

How does criticizing Anita Dunn mean that conservatives are against academic freedom? Are they pushing for a law saying Mao can't be taught in schools? Or a law to prohibit saying stupid things to HS kids? That's way too progressive an idea for conservatives.

Ms Dunn is free to say whatever she wants, and believe whatever she wants. And other people are free to criticize her beliefs and actions if they disagree. It's called freedom of expression and it goes both ways, for the speaker and the listener. Are you saying people have no right to criticize other people's beliefs or actions?

BTW- in no way do I feel she should be fired for being a Maoist. Obama can hire all the Maoists he wants. But don't be surprised if people call him a communist sympathizer and vote against him because of it. They still have that right.

The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies. Why this even has to be pointed out suffers my patience. I think there are fools about.

It's McCarthyism come back as farce. Just like Marx would have put it in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. See, I referenced Marx in a positive way. That means I'm a Marxist and that I will eat your babies, suckers.

Just Lurking-- as you are free to go on as many moronic witch hunts as you please. I won't stop you. But I expect you will also defend my right to proclaim to all and sundry that you're a damned fool who follows the lead of a blubbering rodeo clown on Fox news.

I don't think she's off kilter, for Obama. I think she is an efficient True Believer. It is probably a little thrilling for her to quote Mao to all those young people. Why, this almost makes her a revolutionary! Sort of. She could be if she wanted to.

The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies. Why this even has to be pointed out suffers my patience. I think there are fools about.

It's McCarthyism come back as farce. Just like Marx would have put it in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. See, I referenced Marx in a positive way. That means I'm a Marxist and that I will eat your babies, suckers.

Love how liberals live in their own world. Criticize someone for picking Mao as her "favorite political philosopher", and all of a sudden, we have McCarthyism. This is, somehow, supposed to shut us up, I guess.

But the problem is that McCarthy was over a half a century ago, and, for the most part, he was right. Yes, he was a drunk at the end, but that is more ad hominem than relevant. The State Department was full of Soviet sympathizers (and even some Communists) at a time when we were starting into a Cold War with the USSR.

Personally, I would prefer having an adherent of Sen. McCarthy running this country, than one of Mao. And, I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of Americans would agree.

Yes, it is easy to pretend that there was no connection between the political philosophy of Mao and the murder of a population equivalent to the current population somewhere between that of the U.K. or France and of Germany. Yes, they were Chinks, but they are still dead by his hand.

The problem there is that this level of brutality and murder is inherent in Mao's political philosophy. It is not a coincidence that the three biggest mass murderers of the 20th century were socialists, and two of them were of the Communist brand thereof. Rather, it is a natural consequence. Pretending it is not is just plain silly, in this day and age.

That errant comma in my last comment is so, so bothersome to me. But it could be worse. I could be worse. I could actually take seriously the suggestion that our choices do, or ought, run the gamut from "A" to "B"--for example, Beck and Dunn.

"Just Lurking-- as you are free to go on as many moronic witch hunts as you please. I won't stop you. But I expect you will also defend my right to proclaim to all and sundry that you're a damned fool who follows the lead of a blubbering rodeo clown on Fox news."

"It is probably a little thrilling for her to quote Mao to all those young people. Why, this almost makes her a revolutionary! Sort of. She could be if she wanted to."

Yes. These cafe revolutionaries! I know them well and I believe a lot of them are nerds who long to be heroes. They were the geeks in school and hated and resented the jocks, the good looking kids, the popular and cool kids, and have nurtured this grudge all their lives. They become leftoids speaking truth to power and standing up to the fucking man! Right on!

I'll bet the lion's share of academics in the humanities as well as journalists fall into this category.

She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot. It was some pap for a graduation speech, for people who are supposed to be a little bit interested in exploring the ideas of historical figures, since they just went to college. It's the blandest, most benign kind of statement imaginable (the message was "follow your own path," not "kill the rich," if you can follow).

And yet here we are, taking the lead of a blubbering morning show dj who spends every day trying to whip up a new scandal to feed to his angry fans.

Oh, and she licks her lips and it's revolting. I guess there should be a mannerisms test for government officials. I don't think Professor Althouse is attractive, but I really don't think it bears on her opinions.

"She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot. It was some pap for a graduation speech, for people who are supposed to be a little bit interested in exploring the ideas of historical figures, since they just went to college. It's the blandest, most benign kind of statement imaginable (the message was "follow your own path," not "kill the rich," if you can follow)."

So, you think she's not a totalitarian, just an idiotic intellectually unserious leftist. Hmmm, yes, I agree. All too common these days, sadly.

I guess you would condemn all the "smirking chimp" criticisms of W. then, yes?

FTR, I agree, using the superficialities is kind of bogus, though Maddow is uber-annoying.

And Monty, I find Stalin absolutely fascinating but NEVER discuss him without a disclaimer on how evil he was. If Dunn really considered Mao evil, she would have done likewise on Mao's evil, especially in the context of praising him to kids who would be unlikely to know any more of him than what she mentioned.

"I would have the best minds that I could find with a special eye out for those people who would vehemently disagree with each other. I'd let them argue it out and just listen. [...] let's put him [Alan Dershowitz] in a room with... Adolf Hitler. I'd love to see those guys go at it."

Yes, clearly this means... well, it means that Glenn Beck thinks that Adolf Hitler was one of the best minds he could find. I really beg you to show me how the passage could mean anything else. Where is the word "destroy" ?

It's ok though. Anita Dunn is evil. Glenn Beck really cares about you. Anita Dunn is evil. Obama is a socialist. Just keep repeating it to yourself and sleep, sleep.

If *any* of us used our time well, we would not be in this time-suck together.

This issue is *at least* as profoundly important as 80% of all that is blogged daily, and certainly more important than the vast majority of causes for which enormous organizations exist and fund-raise.

I mean... gawd... people waste their time whining about pet ownership being "animal slavery" when children are dying of malaria and other easily preventable diseases all over the world.

The only issue here is, how stupid is this person who is the Director of Communications for the President of the United States?

She's no Communist. She's clearly out of her depth even discussing Communism. But she should know enough to know that the Director of Communications for the President of the United States shouldn't be telling high school kids at their graduation that Chairman Mao, brutal dictator and mass murderer is one of her "two favorite political philosophers, or that he should be associated with Mother Theresa. It's just dumb. PR people aren't supposed to be dumb in that way. She's got the biggest PR job, arguably, in the world. It's ridiculous beyond words that someone so dumb would be given that job (apparently out of nepotism.)

That's what this is about. Not her political leanings. She's of the left, but not like she's given it a moment's thought. It's just what all the people she hangs around with seem to believe in, and they give her big important jobs and so she's a left-winger. She hasn't given it ten seconds more thought than that. Because she can't.

She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot.

You have a point. A few quotes don't necessarily make her a Maoist. And if you had put it that way in your response to me, I would've gotten it right away.

Sloppy wording on my part. I should have typed: "in no way do I feel she should be fired even if she happens to be a Maoist."

But I stand by my point that criticizing her does not equate with attempting to limit academic freedom.

I'm not a witch-hunt. As I said earlier, I find this controversy funny. After the Van Jones fiasco, as Obama struggles to fight off the impression that he is a socialist, his communications director is caught saying Mao is one of her favorite philosophers at a HS commencement. They make it too easy for people like Beck.

Hmmm. I was a mixed bag, who went on to do various things, including marrying the good-looking, very very good guitar player who also earned a rigorous engineering degree and thereafter did an array of things both nerdy and popular, if not always at the same time. As have I, as it happens; so it goes, sometimes.

***

I'm not at all sensitive about nerd-type tendencies, Paul--and I must confess that I'm not much of a leftist, either.

You described your spouse but avoided characterizing yourself, other than the vague mixed bag reference. You ought to be prepared to answer the question that you saw fit to ask me, no?

Also you didn't explain what your non sequitur about my using a computer to post a comment had to do with my point about nerds nurturing resentments, etc.

Also I might add, since I'm sensing a tone of one-ups-manship, that I was a good enough musician to not have to get an engineering degree, as my grandfather did from Cornell, or a PHD in chemistry from Princeton, as my father did. Rather I was able to play well enough to make my living as a musician my entire adult life.

"The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies."

"When your actions describe a system of evil consequences, you should be judged by those consequences and not by your explanations." Frank Herbert

"She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot."

from a pr standpoint, obama is allowing idiots like dunn to distract from the overall agenda of the administration (thank god)

Obama isnt going to win his war against fox, and if he cant win against fox how is going to deal with the norks, iranians, al queda and the taliban--we have an empty suit, and apparently a stupid suit, sitting in the oval office

The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies.

Monty I want to extend my thanks to you. In that one paragraph alone, you have demonstrated that there is no limit, none at all, to the degree of complete stupidity that the human brain can attain. I find it amazing to say that you even make Jeremy look sage like.

Congratulations Monty. You are an example to stupid people worldwide. They should make a bobblehead of you.

It was a harrowing time, and the story is well-told, if at times horrific. The destruction of family that Mao fostered by itself warrants his time in hell.

Dunn's favorite philosopher gathered up all the western books and burned them, all over the country. There were so many such books however, and so much else to destroy, that they gathered some in old warehouses. The young man snuck into one and stole several books from the US to read, and hid them in the ground in the woods nearby.

He knew he would be killed and his family imprisoned for the crime of reading, but he did it anyway.

I cannot voice how disgusting I find people like Dunn. How she came to be in Obama's administration ("No, we're not socialists!") would be news if his pet Pravdas weren't so busy looking for a bail-out.

She is, what, 55-60 years old? When she was in college Che and Mao were probably considered 'hip.' Does she know history? Sounds as if she hasn't much evolved in her political thinking or spiritual being.

Do current student know who these people are and what horrors Mao unleashed?

It's a funny old thing isn't it? If you had told me months ago that a Mao approving Obama official would be attacking a news organisation I would have thought you were going off the deep end, but here we all are.

That is why the Obama admin is attacking Fox News. So far, Fox and Brietbart have taken several scalps including Van Jones, Rev Wright, Bill Ayers, Acorn staff and will get a few more by year end like Anita Dunn and maybe Rahm Emanuel and Jennings.

It's already been pointed out, but it bears repeating so it doesn't get lost as the main thrust of this whole affair.

The COMMUNICATIONS director for the POTUS should not be this incompetent at her job. There's right and wrong...and then there's political reality. The political reality is that this White House has either done a historically horrible job at vetting their appointees, or, worse, are so inured to their ideology that they didn't care what people were going to think when they appoint people with serious political weaknesses.

This is not a free speech issue. It's a political liability issue. I suppose you could believe it's a free speech issue if you also believe that 100% of the time legal=justice or law=fair.

Regarding Glenn Beck, I've only watched him a few times and for the life of me I don't get all the weeping and gnashing of teeth by the other side. I like that description Ann, that "he's a good TV character."

I guess I'm one of these high-strung guys like him and Rush, and I quite enjoy men and women who are passionate with their beliefs and their defense of the American vision. They do their homework. And that's a good thing.

To the degreed and Pulitzered journalists and Emmy and Murrowed telenistas, class has begun. Take notes.

The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies.

Yeah, I dunno. I think if my favourite philosopher turned out to be a bloodthirsty tyrant who caused tens of millions of deaths, I'd think twice about his being my favourite philosopher. It's also not clear to me that Mao's policies are actually in any way incompatible with his philosophy -- it's not like the Little Red Book doesn't contain passages about wiping out the counterrevoluntionary enemy and so on.

The problem in the administration "vetting" is that any liberal administration appoints from a pool of people who are out of touch with the rest of the country.

They have to draw from the liberal elite, who are mostly academics and lawyers. They've been educated a certain way by elite universities. Guess what? All the things about higher education that conservatives bitch about-- multiculturalism, anti-American perspectives, and lax scholarship-- have consequences.

They produce people like Dunn who have no idea that what they are saying is wrong. What they heard in school was far more radical, after all.

There's nothing wrong with the "vetting" process. There's nowhere else for a liberal administration to go. The problem is the stunning ignorance and moral cluelessness of our elites.

I guess the fair point that is emerging out of this thread is that Dunn is, quite simply, a shallow moron, and has no clue what Mao's philosophy was. She just heard a quote she liked, and decided that was his "philosophy."

The political reality is that this White House has either done a historically horrible job at vetting their appointees, or, worse, are so inured to their ideology that they didn't care what people were going to think when they appoint people with serious political weaknesses.

Well its only a political weakness when people actually understand and grasp the concept that communism sucks? I mean the fact that there weren't gasps (at least I didn't hear any) when this nimrod said one of her favorite political philosophers was Mao speaks volumes.

Then there are just those that either whitewash what Mao and his ilk had done or simply accept it as necessary in order to achieve the goal of a communist society. I listened to this apologist bullshit for 4 years in college and it hasn't changed much over the years.

Guys, the man is a Marxist. He admitted in his book he was drawn to them in college. Look at who he surrounds himself with. The man sat in a church for twenty fucking years listening to Black Liberation Theology and goddam Amerikka. It absolutely boggles my mind that any clear thinking person would vote for this man unless they subscribed to the same philosophy or were so deeply in denial that they just couldn't see past his halo and soothing speaking voice.

Beck didn't say Hitler was a great mind. Beck said Alan Dershowitz is a great mind.

Yeah, it sounded to me like he wanted to watch Alan Dershowitz completely demolish Hitler in an argument.

Also, it occurs to me that the “right” quotes goebbles all the time, but it is very obviously as more of a “watch out for what bad people might do” rather than “let’s talk about how awesome he is”. I’m a little concerned that Ms. Dunn trends towards the latter, although I saw the clip with her saying Mao and Mother Teresa and she just struck me as someone who was trying to make these very shocking sort of mash-up. Which just seemed like something a very young person would do, but also kind of indicates that she knew Mao was bad, as compared to Mother Teresa? So I’m not sure what she was doing here. I am sure she is kind of an idiot.

Mao's philosophy was all about how to be the political winner in a large country in a crisis from war and poverty(Ie.,"All Power comes out of the muzzel of a gun"). Anita Dunn plans to be a winner in a large country in a crisis from war and poverty too. She is ready as soon as Obama's policies finish preparing the battle space for them...a large country in a crisis from war and poverty. The day Obama and Reid finish surrendering us to a world treaty requiring us to go into poverty from a hoax war against the sun, then Anita is ready and has her great mentor's thoughts handy in a red book to guide her in the massive necessary killings of the Bourgeoisie. Other than that she is a sweet person just trying to help out where she can.

The interesting question is why she likes Mao. Successful? Sure, but how and why?

Mao beat the nationalists because he considered them his primary enemy, not the Japanese. Chiang Kai-shek initially felt the same, until a group of his officers considering the Japanese the primary enemy kidnapped him and forced him to sign a truce with the communists. Thereafter the nationalists fought the Japanese while the communists undermined the nationalists and saved their strength waiting for the civil war to resume.

So what lesson is there to take from this? If you want to win, let your true enemy spend his strength fighting someone else while you stab them in the back. The Obama administration isn't interested in fighting terrorism (or defending against the Iranians or Russians). That threat serves to keep Republicans busy when they're powerful. No, the Obama administration spends its effort on the war against Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. These are who lefties perceive as their real enemies.

This was also true during the Bush administration, where Republicans fought terrorists and their supporters while the leftist Democratic leadership undermined their efforts.

I understand perfectly why lefties like Mao, they use his playbook. The question is: when are the rest of the Democrats going to learn how they're being led around by the nose by people who consider their political opponents worse than terrorists?

I understand perfectly why lefties like Mao, they use his playbook. The question is: when are the rest of the Democrats going to learn how they're being led around by the nose by people who consider their political opponents worse than terrorists?

Or more precisely,can they learn? One wonders if the world view of the left is penetrable by even reality, much less truth?

Honestly, to say what Mrs. Dunn did would give me a queasy, sick feeling in my stomach. Whether she was serious or trying to be "cute" or not, the fact remains that she trivializes one of the 20th Century's greatest murderers.

I imagine, Mrs. Dunn had heard someone make a laughing comparison between Mother Teresa, and say, Pinochet, she would have recoiled in horror. But Mao, he's "cute".

Haha.I thought I was the only person who's seen this video who'd noticed that annoying tongue action and other tics in her face.

But I think comedians have a name for that kind of detail that gives punctuation to what they intend to be taken as humor.For example, Jason Alexander, as George Costanza, licks his lips after a punchline.

I have no love for Anita Dunn, and I agree that she's a bit of a dim bulb.But I believe her when she says she was attempting to be funny.

Wait a minute, though. That does not let her off the hook for these egregious remarks. Tragically, the Left thinks that Mao and Che are cool icons and that the stark realities of their murderous history can be overlooked in lieu of their cultural stature of cool.

Many many others who are not the "big names" have also switched channels.

Hmmmmmm is there a trend?

(RE FOX) Follow the money?

For the life of me, I can't think of many Goebbels quotes off the top of my head.

Hossier, this is the one I was thinking of. It’s only the one that I hear quoted a lot. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” ~ Goebbles

.,"All Power comes out of the muzzel of a gun")

With an administration going around quoting THAT, is anyone surprised at there has been a run on bullets?

As to her "ironic" explanation, I am with Nathan Fillion's "Rick Castle" character - ever since the Alanis song, everyone seems to confuse irony with mere coincidence.

I remember being at the Dow Corning museum in upstate NY - they have this room with various "commemorative" corning plates - when I saw the ones Mao and Stalin, I asked the nice guide where I could find the ones for Hitler and Mussolini. I don't think she got the joke.

If you want to see libs defend these comments, to the consternation of conservative and moderates, go here:

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”

or

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

The American Left's lack of revulsion at Mao makes me wonder whether the fact that Mao's victims were Chinese mitigates, in the subconscious minds of the Left, the magnitude of his crimes.

There are plenty of Chinese, after all. And they're so inscrutable. What's another hundred million of them, more or less? He just helped the overpopulation problem, and reduced China's carbon footprint.

There are plenty of Chinese, after all. And they're so inscrutable. What's another hundred million of them, more or less? He just helped the overpopulation problem, and reduced China's carbon footprint.

Heh. That reminds me of a scene from Braveheart.

ROYAL ADVISOR: But my Lord, the Princess may be taken captive, or killed.

LONGSHANKS: Oh and that would distress my son no doubt. But if she were killed, we would find a valuable ally in the King of France. (smirks) You see, as King, you must be able to find the good in any situation.

For the life of me, I can't think of many Goebbels quotes off the top of my head.

TOTALER KRIEG!

A~nd, that's about it. Can't think of any others, and the LarryTheOlder quotes seem a little suspect to me. Would the "keyboard" metaphor have been current back in the 30s? And while Goebbels is famous for his use of the "Big Lie" (e.g. that victory is imminent in the East), I think his writings contain more fulmination about Jews lying. Which they would of course, given that he was a 200% fanatical Nazi.

The "Big Lie" article at wikipedia gives and sources a Goebbel's quote about British big lies. And there are a number of pieces available online -- Goebbels' speeches to the Nazi faithful -- which outline his view of propaganda, which doesn't really match Larry's quotes. E.g., from 1934:

Good propaganda does not need to lie, indeed it may not lie. It has no reason to fear the truth. It is a mistake to believe that the people cannot take the truth. They can. It is only a matter of presenting the truth to people in a way that they will be able to understand. A propaganda that lies proves that it has a bad cause. It cannot be successful in the long run.

Of course, that's what he's saying in public, albeit to a Nazi audience. Perhaps he expressed other sentiments in his diary.

The amazing thing to me is that good education teaches us to think for ourselves all thru life. The willingness of the educated progressives and envionmentalists to leave their brains outside of the arena of politics, and to only follow the line demanded from them by a strongman lead organisation convinces me that we are dealing with a new religion of followers with absolute faith in Collectivist Strength (which we used to call Communist Doctrine). That is scary because this Religion believes in human sacrifice by killing off the Bourgeoisie middle class. If you are a elite democrat with Billions in inherited wealth, or if you are dirt poor, then the Maoists among us are no threat to you. But if you are middleclass, then they are coming for you with murder on their mind. The smile of Barak Obama is a false smile when he talks to the Joe the Plumbers and the Tea Party goers. He hates them. Fox News does not hate the midleclass and they are his enemies because of that.

Beck has always been engaging, insightful and humorous. That a lot of highbrow conservatives profess not to listen to him is exactly the same sort of 'reaching across the aisle' nonsense we get from John McCain. Like the people who spout conservative ideal but always feel they have to end it with, "But yeah, Bush sucked."

Media Matters apparently used a quote from Karl Rove about the book reading contest between President Bush and Rove, where among other things suggested Bush recommends a Mao Bio to Rove, as some sort of proof that Dunn is not an idiot. Excellent reasoning skills over there.

Monty purposely misses a rather large point; Beck is a talk show host, he cannot create governmental policy.

While Dunn is a high level White House appointee responsible for WH Communication policy. Thus Dunn's words carry the imprimatur of the Executive Branch and should be held to a higher standard.

fwiw- I just returned from a trip to Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic; Obama's European honeymoon is over. Anti-Americanism is alive and well, with a heaping of mockery thrown on for good measure.

The European media establishment is annoyed that Obama isn't fulfilling his campaign promises on hard left issues, while the tabloids are in the throes of schadenfreude over our economic woes.

While most Poles and Czechs were against the missile shield they are uneasy over Russia's renewed militarism re the situation in Georgia and aggressive policy stance on Ukraine.

As usual, Europe is schizophrenic about US military power, if we project it they feel bullied, if we retreat they feel betrayed.

This July opinion piece from the right-of-center Telegraph pretty much sums up the attitude I encountered among many people with whom I spoke last week.

I once remarked out loud to my (Chinese) wife that "Chairman Mau was an idiot." This was on a bus in Hong Kong, less than about ten years ago. (I was reading a book on the cultural revolution at the time.

My wife shushed me, saying that I did not know who on the bus might be listening.

I hoped she was being paranoid, but she is the one who grew up in Hong Kong. :(

Why would waste any political capital defending Anita Dunn? Sure, she was speaking off the cuff and no serious person things she defends Mao's actions he did after stating the quote Dunn used. However, your typical American who has actually studied history knows that Mao was a very bad man and you just don't go there. Her judgement is extremely poor and she makes the administration a laughing stock as she is the face of the isolate FNC strategy. Are there any professionals in this administration who are interested in actual governence of the nation, or are they only interested in playing partisan, creating enemies list and letting their ideology take over all sense of rational thought.

If I was a liberal, I would want the Anita Dunns, Van Jones and all these other third-string dullards out since all they do is make it harder for my agenda to get done. I would never waste my time defending these jokers. Not only would I not defend these folks, I would be upset that they were hired in the first place.

It's not a matter of "defending Mao's actions", it's a matter of blithely parroting a quote (that he ripped off Sun-Tzu IMO) without a little aside about "democide champion" as if Mao is someone who should be spoken about in polite company.

You couldn't do that with Hitler. You sure shouldn't be able to do that with Stalin or Mao.

You described your spouse but avoided characterizing yourself, other than the vague mixed bag reference. You ought to be prepared to answer the question that you saw fit to ask me, no?

I did answer it. You didn't get it. But see later.

Also you didn't explain what your non sequitur about my using a computer to post a comment had to do with my point about nerds nurturing resentments, etc.

It had to do with your tone about nerds, who, in terms of technology, back in my day in up-to 12th grade schools, were far less ubiquitous, and so they got busted on a lot, both gratuitously and ridiculously. So many of them deserve the last laugh they earned.

Also I might add, since I'm sensing a tone of one-ups-manship

I quite deliberately adopted that tone, Paul, precisely due to having detected that tone you. In fact, that's a good chunk of what inspired me to respond specifically to you. You've got that vibe going.

that I was a good enough musician to not have to get an engineering degree, as my grandfather did from Cornell, or a PHD in chemistry from Princeton, as my father did. Rather I was able to play well enough to make my living as a musician my entire adult life.

1) I think music, math and engineering are beyond kissing cousins.

2) My parents met as music majors. I am the daughter of not just one, but two, musicians, both in the sense of being *musicians*, but also in the sense of making livings. Also, my father spent some decades as a university music prof. My mom took the rather riskier route. Being their kid, I saw lots.

3) I told you I was a mixed bag. That was far from being a duck: In fact, in went far further toward telling more truth than what you wrote in the comment to which I responded to begin with. But if you like:

I was mostly not good looking (except for one particular stretch, which unfortunately is connected to one of the worst periods of my life); I was not popular, in one sense, even most senses, though I was involved in an extraordinary number of activities, in which people wanted me to be, including those popular; and I was right up there, academically, even though I essentially abandoned my senior year in high school in favor of more hours to work and to take classes at the local university.

4) My husband was, and is, a musician.

5) And, last--just cuz I think wicked humor (especially humor based in reality) is always a good thing to bring in to particular sorts of situations--

Betcha we have a much larger and better collection of guitars than you do.

For example, and all that jazz.

Or maybe not. Who, really, gives an f' about all that high-school stuff, anyhow?

Re #4: ... in addition to being an engineer; if he can be considered a musician in the eyes of my father--a harsh taskmaster, merciless teacher, strict judge, and person of muscular, unbudgeable opinion, if ever there was one--then I'd suspect most others would consider DH rather more able than your average off-hours plinker.

Dude, I like Althouse, I do – no, I really do. I like her blog, I’ve read it for years etc. I don’t comment there, which weakens any cred I have, because Althouse has a serious posse of commenters.phlebotomy training DE